Tag: weaponry

North Korea says 800,000 people enlist to fight ‘US imperialists’

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Saturday 3/18/2023 More than 800,000 young North Koreans have volunteered to join the army to fight “US imperialists”, state media said Saturday, days after Pyongyang test-fired its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile. After a record-breaking year of weapons tests and growing nuclear threats from Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington have ramped up security cooperation, and this week kicked off their largest joint military drills in five years. North Korea views all […]

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European bid to send cluster munitions to Ukraine

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A European country has proposed sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, believing the controversial weapons — whose use by Russia has been condemned — could help on the battlefield, an official said Wednesday. An official from a European nation, who did not want to be identified by name or country, said his government approved the shipment and was seeking permission from Germany, which is involved in the production of the munitions […]

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World ‘holding breath’ over possible NKorea nuclear test: IAEA chief

  United Nations, United States | AFP | The world is holding its breath over the possibility that North Korea might undertake a nuclear bomb test, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday. “Everybody is holding its breath about this, because another nuclear test would be yet another confirmation of a program which is moving full steam ahead, in a way that is incredibly, incredibly concerning,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi said […]

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Israel ‘will not’ supply weapons to Ukraine: defence minister

Israel will not send weapons to Ukraine, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said Wednesday, two days after Russia warned that an Israeli move to bolster Kyiv’s forces would severely damage relations. “Our policy vis-a-vis Ukraine will not change — we will continue to support and stand with the West, we will not provide weapon systems,” Gantz told a briefing of European Union ambassadors, according to a statement from his office. Israel has walked a delicate diplomatic […]

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‘Small number’ of Ukraine soldiers get drone training in US

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in the United States to operate the deadly Switchblade drones that Washington is supplying to Kyiv, a Pentagon official said Wednesday. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said it was a “very small” number of Ukrainian troops who were already present in the US before Russia invaded their country. “We took the opportunity, having them still in the country, to give them a couple of days’ […]

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North Korea silent after missile explodes over Pyongyang

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – North Korea’s state media was silent Thursday after a suspected missile test ended in what Seoul said was total failure, exploding mid-air in the skies above the capital Pyongyang almost immediately after launch. The North test-fired what was most likely a ballistic missile from the Sunan area of the capital, home to some three million people, early Wednesday, South Korea’s military said. The projectile exploded moments after launch, with Seoul-based […]

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N.Korea leader’s sister demands South drop ‘hostile policies’: KCNA

SEOUL, South (AFP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday said it was “admirable” of the South to propose a formal end to the Korean War but demanded Seoul first drop its “hostile policies” towards Pyongyang. Kim Yo Jong’s remarks, carried by Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency, were in response to South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s recent calls for declaring an official end to the 1950-53 conflict that ended […]

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Rebuilding at North Korea’s rocket site ‘almost complete’: Seoul

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has almost completed rebuilding a long-range rocket site it had promised to close, Seoul lawmakers told reporters Friday after a closed-door meeting with South Korean intelligence officials. The claim comes a month after a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February ended without an agreement, deepening a gap between the two on how to achieve “complete denuclearisation”. Shortly […]

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South Korea’s Moon urges new US-North denuclearization talks

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged the US and North Korea to quickly resume denuclearization talks after their Hanoi summit last week ended without a deal. Moon, who has adopted a dovish approach to Pyongyang and brokered the US-North Korea talks process, urged his officials to find out what exactly had gone awry at the high-stakes meeting, and predicted a deal would ultimately be reached. “We hope […]

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US nuclear review calls for development of low-yield weapons

by Thomas Watkins Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military wants to overhaul its atomic arsenal and develop a new type of low-yield weapon that experts worry could lead to greater proliferation and heighten the risk of nuclear war. The proposed changes to the nuclear weapons program, outlined in a draft version of the Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review, mark a significant break from the vision for America’s nuclear future under Barack Obama, who during a famous […]

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